Neat quote saw when reading. Admitting you’re wrong in a genuine way is something you see rarely these days.
“In a 2024 interview, he said he renounced his libertarianism as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic after a libertarian group asked him to speak at an anti-mask rally. “The fact they sent me this email is something I need to be very ashamed of, and I need to change” adding “Many times when I identified as Libertarian, people said to me, ‘It’s just rich white guys that don’t want to be told what to do,’ and I had a zillion answers to that — and now that seems 100 percent accurate.”[56]”
Was libertarian in college. Realized that a key facet of libertarian thinking involves the ideas that “government is a necessary evil” and that “government exists to keep one person’s freedoms from infringing on another’s.” Which led me to consider that if it’s a necessary evil then government should work for the majority of people. Further, government’s “umpire” role should apply to the rich since their freedoms are often infringing on mine and others’ (and wealth is a form of power that needs its own checks).
Anyway, I think I lean more toward communitarian politics nowadays.
Libertarianism has roots in socialism. The term has been coopted by anarcho capitalists. You’re right with your analysis IMO. You can’t be free with authoritarian politics and/or authoritarian economy. Capitalism is very authoritarian.